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A SERMON 



PREACHED IN 



THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 



OllAXGE, N. J., 



FEBRUARY 2«tb, 1854, 



JOHN O R O W E C L 



PA.STOB OF THF. CRUBCH. 



N I^: W V () H;K : 
PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 

CoHKER OF Spritoe St. and Cn-y Halt, Pi,\ce. 

1854. 



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A SERMON 



PRKACHKD IN 



THE SECOl^D PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 

ORAJfGE, N. J., 



FEBRUARY 26th, 1854. 



BT 

JOHN CROWELL 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 

CoBNKB OF Spettce St. AND CnT Haix Place. 

1854. 



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" The triumphing of the wicked is short." — Job xx. 5. 

That the wicked often do triumph can neither be doubted 
nor denied. Thus they themselves are able to boast over the 
righteous, and the righteous are perplexed, and sometimes 
ready to repine. " I was envious at the foolish" (confesses 
one long ago) " when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 
Behold, these are the ungodly that prosper in the world : they 
increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, 
and washed mine hands in innocency." 

The text furnishes part of the solution to this perplexing 
problem in the providence of Grod. 

The triumphing of the wicked is short. 

It is generally short, even with reference to this life, and 
always with reference to the life to come. I wish to speak 
of it at present only with reference to this life ; and without 
attempting to discuss fully even this least important branch of 
the subject, I would briefly offer a single general remark : 

The triumph of the wicked man's success is short. 

A moment's reflection will show us that the success of 
wicked men and wicked plans is at least as likely to be tem- 
porary as that of the righteous and their plans. If it is the 



common lot of earthly things to be transient and uncertain, no 
exemption surely can be claimed in favor of wicked plans. 

But there are causes peculiar to wickedness, which tend to 
the speedy interruption of its success. 

1. The rival plans of other wicked men. 

These will often clash with each other. And as some will 
prevent the success of their rivals, so they will speedily 
break in on the career of the prosperous. All wickedness 
springs from selfishness, which from its very nature tramples 
upon every object weaker than itself. Success in one instance 
will excite the desires of other wicked men ; will inflame their 
envy ; will teach their ignorance, opening a path which they 
can easily follow ; affording a model for their imitation, and 
supplying light to guide them on their way. Thus the very 
success of the wicked man tends to his destruction. ^^ Every 
hand of the vncktd shall come iipon him.y 

The history of wickedness would supply many instances of 
rivals pursuing, supplanting, destroying those who were for 
followed in the rear of another, overwhelming his rival, a 
little time on the pinnacle of success. One conqueror has 
raising for a moment the shout of triumph, but he himself 
soon struck down by a mightier arm. Thus the great battle- 
field of history presents, to an unpractised eye, a confused and 
discordant assemblage of nations, costumes, and languages ; 
one banner for a mmnent waves triumphantly, but soon is 
trampled in the dust, and another is advanced on high; and 
this is repeated over and over again, from the most remote period, 
where the shadows of' time almost conceal the vision, down to 
the spot upon which the strong light of the present age is con- 
centrated — where for a moment Napoleon triumphed and fell. 
And on the same spot new hosts are assembling for a new and 
perhaps more extended and fearful conflict than any which 
the world has yet seen. 

The same thing often happens among a less splendid and less 
lauded class of wicked men. One dishonest man speedily 
arrests the triumi)h of another's success. Some may for a 



time pursue an iniquitous business with what they call bril- 
liant good-fortune, but this will attract others as unscrupulous 
as they, and their occupation may soon be gone. Let any 
man adopt unfair practices in a lawful business, and, escaping 
all the hazards incident to success, rejoice in his gains; he will 
soon find that others can be equally dishonest and equally 
adroit, and his triumph in the monopoly of fraud is but for a 
moment. 

2. Success increases the desire of the wicked man, and 
prompts to new and greater efforts. These often fail, and thus 
frequently all is lost that had been gained. A wicked career 
is like a game of chance, where small winnings entice to 
greater risks, till at length on one venture all may be lost. 

Success in wickedness renders a man reckless. It excites 
his mind, inflames his passions, hardens his heart, and over- 
whehns his judgment. Thus, being madly impelled upwards 
on slippery places, by one false step he may be plunged into 
the lowest depths. " Knowest thou not this of old, since man 
was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is 
short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment ? Though 
his excelkncy mount up to the heavens, and his head reach 
unto the clouds, yet he shall perish for ever; they which have 
seen him shall say, ' Where is he V " 

8. There are also many barriers against which success will 
drive a wicked man, and which will speedily arrest his 
triumphant career. 

I have already said that he will entice and provoke the 
opposition of rivals in wickedness, who are anxious to share 
his spoils. But in addition to this, we are told that " oppres- 
sion makes even wise men mad." We may add, as equally 
true, that it makes gentle men fierce, and weak men strong. 
A tyrant may triumph over a weak and gentle person or nation, 
but his cruelty, his injustice will be goading the gentleness into 
opposition, and nerving the weakness into strength. Thus his 
success is creating the materials for its own destruction. 

Success in wickedness also combines opposition. The wicked 



6 

man seeks to extend the sphere of his triumph and the num- 
ber of his victims. Thus many will be united against him by 
commpn suflerings, and many others, through fear that their 
turn may next come. 

The wicked man must also encounter the sense of justice 
which is lodged deep in every breast. It exists even in the 
breasts of the wicked themselves. The ability to distinguish 
right from wrong is never entirely destroyed by transgression ; 
sometimes, on the contrary, it is increased. Men may be keen- 
sighted to detect evil in others, though it exist in themselves ; 
yes, in proportion as it exists in them ; and the worst may love 
justice, provided it be not inflicted on their own heads. Thus 
the opposition of the wicked against the wicked is strength- 
ened, when one can plead the claims of justice against the 
other. When does cruelty revel and riot so fiercely as when 
the abandoned and the vile, maddened by wrongs, trample 
down the barriers of law, and take the infliction of vengeance 
into their own hands? Then the innocent share the fate of 
the guilty — the pure fall with the corrupt and the infant with 
the man : then the adroitest executioner and the most rapid 
stroke are too slow for the work of death ; the nearest lamp- 
posts receive their victims ; the rivers flow with blood. Then, 
indeed, it is "the reign of terror" over the land. The very 
" Furies" of hell are lost spirits, armed as the ministers of 
justice. 

But it is the opposition of the upright and pure which is 
chiefly aroused by the success of the wicked, and which proves 
the most effectual barrier against their continued triumph. 
The strong among the good are alert and determined in 
defence of the weak. Phy:?ical strength is quickly by the side 
of the feeble ; intellectual strength pours forth its treasures in 
behalf of the ignorant, and moral strength encounters its 
greatest risks to uphold the innocent. 

The providence of G-od often speedily arrests the success of 
wicked men. 

All the influences which I have mentioned arc parts of His 



providential arrangement. But, in addition to the ordinary 
operation of these, we often find God manifestly overruling 
and controlling them, giving them special efficiency. Some- 
times He interferes by an unusual and unexpected agent, or 
without any visible agency whatever. The only verdict that 
the strictest investigation can render is, that the mighty have 
fallen by the hand of Grod. 

The close of the chapter in which the text is found, thus 
sums up the influences by which the success of the wicked is 
brought to an end ; combining the superintendence of G-od's 
providence with the instrumentality of men, and ascribing 
their united results to the appointment of God : " The heaven 
shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against 
him. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods 
shall flow away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion 
of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed him by 
God." 

But, cutting short the general discussion of this subject, I 
wish to give the remainder of my remarks specific reference to 
the wickedness of a public proposition which is before the 
Senate of the United States, with a view to its being enacted 
into a law. 

There are some, I know, who say that a minister must not 
interfere with politics. With party or sectional politics cer- 
tainly he must not, except to condemn falsehood, injustice, and. 
strife, wherever they may be found. But as to politics in the 
enlarged and proper sense of the term, as to public affairs, to 
say that he must not endeavor to apply to them the principles of 
righteousness and of the gospel of Christ, would be to say that 
a watchman appointed to protect a city from the ravages of 
fire must concern himself only with the private dwellings of 
individuals, and allow public edifices to be wrapt in flames ; 
or that a sentinel on duty must be faithful in challenging 
every solitary traveller, but be silent when he sees embattled 
legions advancing on their way. 

For one, I should not wish to go to the judgment-seat of 



Christ and render my account for one of the pulpits consecrated 
to the enforcement of His gospel, if I had not endeavored, 
with whatever of strength I have, to make it utter its protest 
against what seems to me the manifest and heaven-daring 
wickedness of the measure to which I refer. 

The strength of the Pulpit will always depend upon its com- 
mending to the consciences of men the claims of truth, of 
righteousness and of Grod. My work therefore is to lay calmly 
before you the reasons why, in my judgment, the proposed 
measure ought to be denounced as wicked. If you agree with 
me, it is your work to rise up in your sovereignty as citizens 
and say that your servants shall not do this thing. 

1. I call it a wicked measure because it violates the agree- 
ment made in 1820, that, in the territory purchased from 
France, north of 36° 30', slavery should be excluded for ever. 
This agreement was established by the Congress of the United 
States after great opposition had been made by the North 
against the permission of slavery in the State of Missouri. 
The Senate having voted in the affirmative, and the House of 
Representatives in the negative, the two Houses compromised 
by drawing the above-mentioned line, on the south of which 
slavery should be permitted, and on the north should bn ex- 
cluded for ever. For thirty-four years this has been the law 
of the land. By virtue of it the South has obtained for slavery 
all the territory south of the line ; and in view of the fact, ad- 
mitted by all, that she could further extend the limits of slavery 
only by acquisitions towards the South, she has sought and 
obtained the annexation of Texas at the subsequent cost of 
the war with Mexico. On the North thus far the country 
has remained a wilderness, but now, as soon as there is a pros- 
pect of its being settled, the proposition is made to establish 
slavery in it by the law organizing the Territorial Govern- 
ment. To this proposition, therefore, belongs the wickedness 
of covenant-breaking — of perjury — of the violation of the 
j)lighted public faith — the most sacred thing that exists be- 
neath the covenanted faithfulness of God. For this reason it 
ought to be abhorred, denounced, and put down. 



2. It is wicked because it violates the just and righteous 
will and intention of our fathers that slavery should never be 
extended, under the authority of the United States, beyond 
the limits in which it already existed. 

This will and intention they expressed in three very decisive 
modes : 

(1 .) By openly avowing their opinion that slavery was a 
great evil, scourge, and curse to the country. They charged 
its existence and prevalence upon British policy and British 
wrong. 

Let me set forth this point in the strong language of Daniel 
Webster, in his address to the Senate on the 7th of March, 
1850 : " The eminent men, the most eminent men, and nearly 
all the conspicuous politicians of the South, held the same sen- 
timents — that slavery was an evil, a blight, a scourge and a 
curse. There are no terms of reprobation of slavery so vehe- 
ment in the North at that day as in the South. The North 
was not so much excited against it as the South, and the rea- 
son is, I suppose, that there was much less of it at the North, 
and the people did not see or think they saw the evils so promi- 
nently as they were seen or thought to be seen at the South. 
Then, Sir, when this Constitution was framed, this was the 
light in which the Federal Convention viewed it. That body 
reflected the judgment and sentiments of the great men of the 
South. The question then was how to deal with it, and how 
to deal with it as an evil." 

This is the first mode by which the founders of our govern- 
ment, the achievers of our independence, declared their will 
and intention that slavery should not be extended, under the 
authority of the United States, beyond the actual limits which 
it then had. 

(2.) They carried out their intention in a very practical and 
effectual manner, by making provision for the speedy prohibi- 
tion of the slave-trade. 

(3.) They adopted the ordinance of 1787, by which slavery 
was excluded from all the territory over which the Congress of 



10 

the United States had jurisdiction. " This was established" 
(Mr. Webster says) " with the entire and unanimous concur- 
rence of the whole South. The vote of every State in the 
Union was unanimous in favor of it, with the exception of a 
single individual vote, and that individual vote was given by 
a Northern man." 

Our fathers supposed and believed that by stopping the im- 
portation of slaves, and by shutting slavery up within the 
limits which it then occupied, it would be gradually but surely 
brought to an end, even where it did exist. 

But the measure now before the Senate proposes to admit 
slavery into a vast territory under the jurisdiction of the 
United States; and, therefore, because it proposes to undo the 
righteous principle established at the origin of our government, 
it is to be denounced as wicked. 

3. I arraign it as wicked, because it violates the Constitu- 
tion of the United States. 

One of the objects for which the people of the United States 
have ordained and established the Constitution, as set forth in 
its preamble, is to establish justice. Therefore, to violate any 
one of its provisions, unless it can be shown that it does not 
accomplish the design of establishing justice, is a wicked thing, 
as wicked as to break down the safeguards of justice anywhere 
. — wicked in proportion to the wide and supreme jurisdiction 
which the Constitution sways, to the influence which it ex- 
erts, and to the ruin which must ensue if it be broken down. 

This being so, I accuse this Nebraska bill of violating the 
Constitution in two important particulars : 

(1.) It affirms that there is and shall be property in 7n.en; 
which the Constitution deliberately avoids and refuses to do. 

The Constitution speaks of a man who, in common lan- 
guage, is called "a slave," as "a person held to service or 
labor in one State under the laws thereof." It does not say 
held justly, or held equitably, but simply " held," having the 
hand of power laid upon him. It defines the limit within 
which he is held — " in one State." It does not say, held 



11 

under the law of Nature, or under the law of God ; but under 
the law of the State ; using this guarded expression of the 
only authority under which the hand of power holds the man. 

Now, it is clear that masters of language, laying the found- 
ations of a great nation, and accustomed to speak every day of 
" slaves" and " slavery," could not have used such guarded 
and restricted terms, unless they had intended to do so. The 
language itself, therefore, is very remarkable. 

But when we learn the history of its adoption, its signifi- 
cance becomes most instructive and impressive. 

I give this history in the language of Mr. Webster, quoting, 
though for the third time, that address which he has entitled, 
''A Speech for the Constitution and the Union." "It may 
not be improper here to allude to that, I had almost said, cele- 
brated opinion of Mr. Madison. » You observe, Sir, that the 
term slave, or slavery, is not used in the Constitution. The 
Constitution does not require that ' fugitive slaves' shall be 
delivered up. It requires that persons held to service in one 
State, and escaping into another, shall be delivered up. Mr. 
Madison opposed the introduction of the term ' slave ' or 
' slavery ' into the Constitution : for he said that he did 
not wish to see it recognized by the constitution of the 
United States of America, that there could be property in 

MEN," 

Thus we learn that the common expressions, " slave" and 
*' slavery," were opposed and stricken out — that the reason 
assigned by a prominent Southern delegate was, that the Con- 
stitution might not recognize that there could be property in 
men, and that this reason prevailed. 

Therefore, we are authorized to affirm, that the Constitution 
deliberately and intentionally refuses to say that there can be 
property in men. Consequently this proposed measure vio- 
lates the Constitution, by enacting that which the Constitu- 
tion refused to recognize as possible. Therefore, it breaks 
down one of the safeguards of the Constitution for the estab- 
lishment of justice, and, on this account, I call it wicked. 



12 

(2.) It also violates the Constitution in another particular. 
That instrument calls the colored man " a person^^^ three times 
by express reference. The firstJtime, in the instance to which 
I have just alluded, when designing to specify a man com- 
monly called a slave — of course, only a colored man — it defines 
him as a ^^ person held to service." The second time it speaks 
of him as a person, is when giving the power to prohibit the 
slave-trade, and the third time, is in the clause which gives 
the slave representation in Congress. 

This being so, the fifth article of the amendments to the Con- 
stitution declares : '•'■Nor shall any person be compelled in any 
criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived 
of life, liberty, or property, vnthout due process of law?'' The 
colored man being a person in the Constitution, as everywhere 
else, (unless there be an exception asserted under the law of a 
slave State,) is included in this protection. This is the point I 
make : Wherever the Constitution of the United States 

HAS unrestrained JURISDICTION, THE ONLY WAY BY WHICH, UNDER 
ITS AUTHORITY, ANY PERSON CAN BE DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY, IS IN A 
CRIMINAL CASE, WITH DUE PROCESS OF LAW. 

But this Nebraska bill enacts that persons held to service 
under the laws of a State, if carried by their master within the 
Territory, shall be slaves. Without this enactment, the moment 
their master took them over the threshold of his own State 
into a State or Territory where slavery was not allowed, they 
are free by common law. The law of the slave State being of 
no force, a new law must enslave them a second time, or he 
who calls himself their master cannot " hold them." This new 
law, it is proposed, shall be the act of Congress organizing the 
Territory, and ordaining that they shall be slaves, when with- 
out it they are free. Thus, in no criminal case and without 
due process of law, will they be deprived of liberty. This is 
an express violation of the Constitution. 

Further, if this proposition become a law, all the children 
who shall be born in that Territory of an enslaved parent will 
be deprived of liberty by act of Congress, without any charge 



13 

of crime, without any process of law. Here, also, the Consti- 
tution will be most flagrantly violated in one of its most solemn 
provisions for the establishment of justice. 

Therefore, I do not say that the law, if passed, will be un- 
constitutional, and consequently void. This, I think, could be 
said at the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. I 
do not say that, if enforced without remedy, it would be 
ground for revolution. This, I think, might be said in a law- 
ful assembly of the people. But here, in the pulpit, where it 
is proper to consider whether a measure be just or unjust, 
righteous or wicked, I arraign this as unjust and wicked, be- 
cause it tramples down a safeguard which the people of the 
United States have set up for the establishment of justice. 

4. It is wicked, because it violates the clause in the Decla- 
ration of Independence, wherein the representatives of the 
United States declare their faith in the self-evident truth that 
all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable 
rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness. 

This is the foundation on which American independence 
was declared and fought for — the appeal being made to G-od 
for the righteousness of the cause. If there be any sentiment 
which all the people of the United States have declared to be 
part of their faith, surely it is this : That all men have been 
endowed by their Creator with liberty as an inalienable right. 

Therefore, for a people who believe this to pass a law enslav- 
ing all of a certain class who shall be born within a vast por- 
tion of the earth's territory, and extending the doom to their 
children and children's children too — this is wicked. It is 
wickedness that will cry to Heaven. 

5. It is wicked, because it violates the gospel of Christ. 
The Saviour's rule is, "As ye would that men should do to 

you, do ye even so to them." Or, as He has expressed the 
same principle in another form, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." 

Every man loves himself too well to be willing to be en- 



14 

slaved. He is bound, therefore, to love his neighbor too well 
to make him a slave. He loves his own children too well to 
wish them enslaved. Therefore, he is bound to love his neigh- 
bor's children too well to enslave them. This proposed act will 
enslave others ; it is therefore a wicked violation of the gospel. 
And think not, ye people of the land — think not, ye rulers of 
the people, that it is a light thing to violate the gospel of the 
Son of G-od. He will rule rebellious nations with a rod of iron. 
He will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise 
now, therefore, ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the 
earth. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the 
way ; for soon His anger will be kindled. 

6. Lastly, this proposition is wicked because it sets at 
defiance the sovereign bounty of God the Creator to His 
creatures. 

Americans affirm that they believe, according to the Decla- 
ration of Independence, that all men are endowed by their 
Creator with liberty as truly as with life. Believing this, 
it is wicked (as I have said) to wrest that liberty away. 

But more than this. Grod is the Creator of all men, and 
has endowed them with common birthrights, whether the 
Declaration of Independence has said so or not. Grod has himself 
said it, declaring that he hath made of one blood all the nations 
of men who dwell on the face of the earth, and that he has 
created them in his own image. 

Therefore, for a law of the United States to wrest away 
these common rights from multitudes who shall be born in the 
Territory of Nebraska, is to rush into immediate collision with 
the creating sovereignty of Grod. 

One of our laws declares the slave-trade to be piracy. Yet 
this proposed law will do the very same thing that the pirati- 
cal slave-dealer does. What is it that brands the slave-trade 
as piracy ? It is not the horrors of the middle passage. Let 
all these be done away. Let your Atlantic, your Pacific, your 
Arctic, your Baltic, engage in the business. Let them trans- 
port the slaves in all the luxury and splendor of their first-class 



15 

saloons, and they would be condemned as pirates still. It is 
taking the man or child from his native soil and making 
him a slave, — this is the piracy of the nefarious trade. And 
this is what the United States propose now to do. As well 
might they send forth their national ships to bring slaves, 
bound hand and foot, over the ocean ; as well might they make 
the St, Louis, whose very name is as the watchword of liberty, 
the flag-ship of the fleet. For this law will take children upon 
American soil; will seize them, with all the force of American 
power, from the very arms of their parents, from the very 
hand of their Creator, It will bind them with the fetters of 
slavery, from their first breath on Grod's earth to their last. 

Well has it been said on the floor of the Senate, yet in Scrip- 
ture language, that this is to run on the bosses of Jehovah's 
buckler. 

I have thus briefly and imperfectly set before you the 
reasons why this proposition should be opposed and resisted as 
unjust and wicked. If its authors succeed in effecting its 
enactment into a law, their personal triumph will be short ; 
but the consequences of their action will survive their fall, and 
may be as lasting and wide-spread as they will be fatal. 
Therefore every man is called upon to do his part to prevent 
the consummation of the deed. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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